An electronic security door is a security door with electronic features, ranging from electronic locks to remote control options. Security doors in general are heavy duty doors that are designed to provide safety and security. They can be used to control access to restricted areas, to secure buildings, and to create safe or panic rooms where people can shelter if they are threatened. These doors have a number of features that are designed to make them difficult to penetrate.

A typical security door is built from heavy, thick materials so it cannot be kicked in or cut open. Security doors may also be designed to be fireproof for extra safety. These doors have concealed hinges to prevent people from simply removing doors by their hinges, and heavy duty locks and strikeplates to make them difficult to open by interfering with the locking mechanism. Security doors are used in settings ranging from college dorms to weapons storage facilities.

An electronic security door has electronic features designed to enhance security and support security measures. Such doors can interface with a larger electronic security system. On the electronic security door itself, features like electronic keypads or biometric locks may be implemented. Electronic security doors can also be fitted with card swipes or radio frequency identification (RFID) locks. These features allow a facility to limit who is allowed to pass through the door.

Security doors can also be alarmed. These doors may send an automatic signal to a central control room whenever they are opened, and they are often equipped with cameras so that security officers can see who went through the door. The door also maintains logs indicating who opened the door and at what time. The security logs can be matched with camera records. If the electronic security door is forced or interfered with, alarms may sound remotely, as well as locally, depending on how the security system is organized.

Remote control of an electronic security door can include the ability to lock down the door, making it impossible for people to open, even if they are normally authorized. Security officers can also remotely open the door, as may be done in an emergency when first responders need to be able to get through the door as quickly as possible. Other remote control options can interface with fire control systems and other safety systems so that a door can be opened or locked down in the event of a fire, chemical spill, or other hazard. In facilities like laboratories where people work with hazardous materials, security doors are usually designed to lock down in the event of an incident to contain hazards until they can be cleaned up.

Discuss this Article

AnimandelPost 3

Maybe I have seen way too many TV shows and movies, but what concerns me most about electronic door locks is the possibility that they will somehow lock and then my family and I won't be able to get into the house. Even worse would be if we got locked inside the house when there was a fire or some other type of emergency where we needed to get out of the house quickly.

Does anyone remember how bad the old electric locks on car doors were? Those things got stuck all of the time, and you couldn't lock or unlock the door depending on which way it malfunctioned.

FeryllPost 2

@Laotionne - My uncle has a security door that he hung at his front entrance. He bought the door to replace an old wooden door he had had for ages. The security door is metal.

He came home one day and saw that someone had tried to break in the front door. He could see the dents in the door where someone had used something to bang against it in an attempt to get into the house. The door was battered, but it held and the person was unable to get through it and into the house.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. The thief or thieves gave up on the front door, but they went

around to the side of the house and broke through the sliding glass door off of the carport.

So want I am saying is that security doors can discourage people trying to break in to your house, but you need to make sure all of the places they could enter are secure.

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